Sports Medicine Experts to fix Saints Injury Woes

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Saints recruit 'world leaders'
Samantha Lane | July 14, 2007

ST KILDA soon would be punching above its weight, club president Rod Butterss proclaimed last night, after appointing a quartet of sports science experts from the Australian Institute of Sport to help fix, among other things, the Saints' glaring soft-tissue injury problem.

Dr Dennis Hatcher, head of sports science, medical research and education at the AIS, Dr David Pyne, a sports physiologist there, Dr Peter Stanton, a former physiotherapist with the AIS who spent three years as head physiotherapist at the Brisbane Lions during their three-premiership run, and Craig Purdam, head of physiotherapy at the AIS, would form what Butterss called a new "sports science and innovation group" at St Kilda that is being headed by former club captain Dr Ross Smith.

"This club has lost more players through soft-tissue injuries by a factor of about 50 per cent. So when you compare that with other clubs, our limited player availability has really cost us," Butterss told his president's dinner. "The next worse, if you like, is the Melbourne footy club and we all know they're struggling to win a game.

"I think it's important to note that these people, and indeed the AIS, are the world leaders in the area of sports science and high performance. We don't need to travel overseas; just consider the results Australian teams have achieved on the global stage. As a nation, we punch above our weight, and now so does the St Kilda Football Club, both in terms of financial performance … and now by attracting and collaborating with these world leaders, we punch above our weight. Already the benefits are starting to flow."

Butterss credited Smith with pulling the team together, saying it was "a great coup". "I and my fellow directors have been extremely frustrated each week with our inability to put the very best team on the park. Some of our performances this year with a number of our better players out have been outstanding. And to have won six games with the stock that we've had available, I think has been an outstanding performance and congratulations to our football department and our playing group," he said.

Butterss also said St Kilda this year would post a fourth consecutive profit in excess of $1 million.
 

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Persevering Saint

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#2
Butterss also said St Kilda this year would post a fourth consecutive profit in excess of $1 million.
Yeah, the slacker should OH SO be fired. ;) Let's see Bedders or Fox post that kinda profit in a year which had a new coach, and poor on-field performance in the first half of the year.
 
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#3
Already the benefits are starting to flow."
This part of Butters' speach made me curious. Has this sports-science group been in place for a while and has been a factor in our lengthy injury-list shortening in recent weeks? Have programs already been outlined for some of our injury-plagued stars from the pre-season of 2008? ...
 

sainter

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#4
You could argue that it's taken too long for something constructive to be done although in fairness they have done things like resurfacing Moorabbin and hiring Starcevich in a bid to change our fortunes.

It's great to have an ex-champion of the club like Ross Smith using his expertise to help the club solve a problem that has held the club back just enough to prevent us from achieving what we are capable of.
 

ChrisFooty

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#5
There is no question st.kilda's injury woes have lessen the last 3-4 matches. However, i would of thought a sports science group reviewing the saints training habits, would NOT have immediate success. The only way it could have possible immediate impact, would of been the team rectifying something that was totally wrong.
 
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